(ETX Daily Up) – This summer, the City of Boston will launch a pilot program to provide cargo bikes to small businesses in the Allston neighborhood for deliveries. A first in the United States.
The experiment will be conducted in this neighborhood of west Boston for 18 months. This experimentation is part of a set of equitable clean transportation projects in the state, starting with the establishment of free bus lines and the development of new bike paths.
Cargo bikes instead of delivery trucks
Through this operation, the city’s objective is obviously to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and congestion in the streets, while making them safer for all road users, including pedestrians.
This initiative is taken as demand for food delivery and delicatessen services has exploded across the United States for two years and the start of the Covic-19 pandemic. Now, many residents prefer this type of delivery rather than going shopping themselves. Therefore, it is better to have it delivered using a cargo bike than a van. The idea is to convince, at the end of this test, the professionals of the other districts of the city to adopt similar solutions.
In the United States, this initiative is unique. Until now, some municipalities, such as Portland, have been content to offer bicycles to their municipal employees. However, here, it is a matter of assistance offered directly to businesses and merchants of an entire district so that they equip themselves with cargo bikes.